Last year’s constant quarterback rotation at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff isn’t in the plans for this season. The Golden Lions believe they have their man.
Mekhi Hagens goes into Thursday’s season opener against Arkansas (6:30 p.m. on ESPNU) at War Memorial Stadium knowing the starting job is his.
“I’m truly honored for the position,” Hagens said. “I know a lot comes with it, so I’m ready. I been preparing myself for this moment my whole life. Just been working hard. It’s paying off, so it’s time to show what I been working on.”
This will be the second straight season Hagens starts UAPB’s season opener. He played the entire first half and some of the second half of last year’s game at Tulsa before going down with an injury. Jalen Macon replaced him for the rest of that game and the Golden Lions’ second game, but the two shared time over the following weeks.
A third quarterback, Chancellor Edwards, also started seeing playing time midway through the year, but Hagens got the entirety of the finale at Texas Southern, a 35-34 win to end the season.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Coach Alonzo Hampton said the early injury at Tulsa may have derailed Hagens’ 2023 campaign to a degree, but he has worked hard since and earned this opportunity.
“I think if he had probably played the whole year, I think a lot of things would have been different,” Hampton said. “But when you get injured, sometimes it just kind of mentally takes you away from the things that you’re accustomed to.”
Hagens finished the season having completed 45.3% of his passes for 580 yards and three touchdowns with four interceptions. He also rushed 65 times for 163 yards and four touchdowns.
Macon and Edwards left via the transfer portal after the season, but Hagens stayed. He had to fend off junior college transfer DJ Stevenson throughout the offseason, but did enough to convince offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tony Hull to stick with him.
“It’s his ability to process and his ability to make adjustments within the game plan which really stood out to me,” Hull said. “His ball placement as well as the velocity at which he throws the football, all of those things went into saying he’s the guy.
“He has the ability to get us out of bad plays and put us in better ones, and he also has the ability to take the football to places where it needs to be.”
Hull said Hampton allowed him to make the decision at quarterback.
Although Hagens has experience from last season, he has a litany of new weapons this year. UAPB brought in several transfers at wide receiver such as JaVonnie Gibson and Kristian Gammage from Arkansas-Monticello. He still has some returning targets from last year such as Daemon Dawkins, but getting on the same page as the newcomers is paramount.
Gibson said Hagens has been working on that with him and his fellow receivers all offseason.
“This past spring, we was over here every day after practice,” Gibson said. “We was getting throws in, working. I think that played a big role with all the receivers, too. I feel like he bought into the system. I bought into the system, too, and we went with it.”
Hagens said he and the receivers have worked together so much this offseason, it feels like he has been playing with them for four years.
He faces a big test right away as the official starting quarterback. The Razorbacks had the fourth-best passing defense in the SEC last year, holding opponents to 202.8 passing yards per game. They also forced 12 interceptions, tied for third-most in the league.
Hagens was the only of UAPB’s three quarterbacks last season to throw more interceptions than touchdown passes, but he said passing and reading defenses are the two areas where he has most improved this offseason.
And, after last season, he knows winning the starting job is only the beginning. Now, he must keep it.
“The biggest thing I learned from last year, don’t take nothing for granted,” Hagens said. “Anything can be taken at any moment. We just gotta stay to the course, keep working hard. I gotta do better off the field and on the field with my position. That’s what I did this summer, and it worked.”